1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a vehicle body floor construction of a motor vehicle, and more particularly to a vehicle body floor construction of a motor vehicle, wherein a tunnel upwardly projecting from the surface of a floor panel and disposed in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle is formed at the central portion in the widthwise direction of the floor panel and a fuel tank is disposed in the tunnel.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In general, in a motor vehicle, particularly, a passenger vehicle, a fuel tank has been disposed at the back of seats located at the rear end of a space occupied by occupants, whereby there have been imposed limits on the utilization of a space in the rear portion of the vehicle by the space occupied by the fuel tank.
To solve the above-described problems, it is conceivable that, in a rear engine--rear wheel drive type motor vehicle or the like for example, in which a propeller shaft does not longitudinally traverse a floor panel of the vehicle therebeneath, a tunnel upwardly projecting from the surface of the floor panel and disposed in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle is formed at the central portion in the widthwise direction of the floor panel and a fuel tank is disposed in the tunnel, so that effective utilization of the space in the rear portion of the vehicle can be enhanced and further reduced total length of the vehicle and decreased weight of the vehicle can be attained.
With the motor vehicle of the type described, there are some cases where, in a compartment, an occupant's seat disposed upwardly of the floor panel is divided by the tunnel into two right and left portions. In such cases, there has been presented the problem that a dead space is formed upwardly of the tunnel in the compartment.
Furthermore, in the motor vehicle of the type described, the fuel tank is adapted to be disposed in the vicinity of the occupant's seat, thereby presenting the problem that the flowing sounds when fuel in the fuel tank flows due to the acceleration or deceleration of the vehicle can be easily heard by the occupant.
Furthermore, in the rear engine--rear wheel drive type motor vehicle, there is provided a shift linkage extending from a speed-change control lever disposed in a space for occupants to the rear portion of the vehicle through the central portion in the widthwise direction of the vehicle, and the path of this shift linkage mut not interfere with the fuel tank in the aforesaid tunnel.